The tennis ball, an undisturbed artifact of a horrific wildfire, sat simply off the Pacific Palisades court docket and was so lined in grey ash that its Penn brand was solely faintly seen.
Pam Shriver studied it the best way she would possibly a valuable archaeological discovery.
“I find that so moving,” the Corridor of Fame tennis participant mentioned. “The ball survived.”
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Tennis legend Pam Shriver talks in regards to the ongoing effort to revive tennis courts that had been broken in the course of the Palisades hearth in January.
All of that is intensely private to Shriver, as it’s to thousands and thousands of Southern Californians. She lives in Brentwood and although she was evacuated within the January fires, her residence was spared. Nonetheless, extra pals and households than she will be able to rely weren’t so lucky.
That has been the driving pressure for her the previous eight months, how she will be able to use tennis and her affect to assist rebuild the communities most severely affected by the catastrophic flames.
“Tennis brings people together,” mentioned Shriver, a part of ESPN’s U.S. Open broadcast staff. “It gets families moving. It creates a sense of normalcy.”
Normalcy has been in brief provide in the course of the previous eight months, and Shriver has been keenly conscious of that dwelling amid the cleanup of the Palisades and touring the devastation of Altadena. It’s so significant to her, virtually poetic, that the game courts escaped comparatively unscathed.
“The nets, the wind screens, the fencing is gone,” she mentioned. “But the courts themselves are intact. There’s something symbolic about that. It’s the promise of resilience.”
Shriver and buddy Ilise Friedman are the driving pressure behind Village Rising, a basis created to revitalize communities disrupted by disaster or catastrophe.
Friedman, whose background is in fundraising, began the nonprofit in 2018 in response to the Woolsey hearth, and later helped victims of the Getty hearth in 2019 earlier than pausing the operation in the course of the pandemic.
Pam Shriver, proper, and buddy Ilise Friedman play main roles within the Village Rising Basis, a nonprofit that works to revitalize communities disrupted by disaster or catastrophe.
(Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Instances)
When pals from around the globe started calling to donate after the January fires, Friedman restarted Village Rising with Shriver, now the group’s president. It’s predominantly a volunteer operation with bettering colleges and sports activities applications at its core.
“Tennis is our through line,” Friedman mentioned. “Our mantra is, ‘Build a court, build a community.’”
Shriver was in Kona, Hawaii, along with her sons when the fires broke out, on her strategy to cowl the Australian Open. When the severity of the scenario grew to become obvious, she got here again to Los Angeles and checked on her residence earlier than evacuating to a resort in Marina del Rey.
Whereas she was staying there, her son’s Dodge Durango was stolen from the parking zone. Behind the heisted SUV had been lots of her main championship trophies, together with 5 from the French Open, seven from the Australian and one from Wimbledon.
The automotive was by no means recovered, however about 10 days after the theft somebody dropped off the trophies behind the resort.
“If it was either the car or the trophies that would never come back, it worked out much better for me,” she mentioned. “My son might argue otherwise.”
1. Pam Shriver and Ilise Freidman stroll across the tennis courts on the Palisades Tennis Heart on Aug. 16. 2. Tennis balls scorched by the Palisades hearth had been nonetheless on the courts on the Palisades Tennis Heart. (Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Instances)
In comparison with what others have misplaced, the stolen automotive is a mere inconvenience. Enter Village Rising, whose aim is to determine ignored parks and colleges broken by the hearth, increase funds and distribute grants shortly.
“We want the money to flow through to where it’s needed quickly,” Shriver mentioned. “We don’t want to sit on it.”
The tennis connection is apparent, however Shriver additionally has served on 4 non-public college boards, and her boys attended native colleges within the Palisades. She’s notably targeted on underfunded colleges within the Altadena space the place hearth harm has waylaid rebuilding efforts.
“It’s about lifting up places that were left behind,” she mentioned.
In her storied taking part in profession, Shriver reached the ladies’s singles finals of the U.S. Open in 1978 at age 16, gained an Olympic gold medal in 1988, however is finest identified for her doubles play, principally with Martina Navratilova. They gained seven Australian Open, 5 Wimbledon, 4 U.S. Open and 4 French Open titles.
Now, a brand new problem to overcome alongside Friedman.
“This is like doubles,” Shriver mentioned.
And the power of her recreation again then?
Naturally, service.
